Peanut Crops `Worst I've Ever Seen'

Summer Drought Destroys Crops, Depresses Farmers

October 13, 1993|By CYNTHIA BARNES Daily Press

ISLE OF WIGHT — James E. Crocker calls this year the worst he's seen in his 31 years of farming. Each day for months he has headed to the fields by sunrise to nurture about 550 acres of corn crops, only to see most of them dried, brown and shriveled.

The corn that survived brought him $2, about $1 less per bushel than he usually gets. With an average acre of corn producing about 125 bushels, Crocker lost about $125 per acre or a total of about $68,000.

He's stood in fields of peanuts and been forced to choose the lesser of two evils - either to harvest immature plants or let them mature and take a chance on them being attacked by frost. After choosing to harvest, he found that the crop - which is one-third of his farm and a big chunk of his livelihood - was devastated by spider mites and worms.

It has taken a toll on him emotionally, he says. He says depression comes with the territory.

A combination of hot, dry weather and lack of rainfall has caused the Virginia Agricultural Statistics Service to predict that this farming season might bring crop losses to the same massive proportions as the drought of 1980. That year, the state yield for peanuts was cut more than half to 1,450 pounds per acre and farmers statewide lost a total of $55 million. This year, the state statistics service is predicting an average yield of about 1,800 pounds per acre, barely one-half of Virginia's average of 3,000 pounds per acre.

According to the National Weather Service, 1993 was the third-warmest summer on record with average temperatures of 80 degrees. Only 4.9 inches of rain fell on Hampton Roads during the summer; the average is 14 inches.

Next to tobacco, which brings in $196 million in sales a year for farmers statewide, peanuts are Virginia's largest cash crop with $100 million in sales a year, but farmers will not reap the average 3,000 pounds per acre that could produce profits of $410 per acre. Instead, a typical farmer with 125 acres of peanuts will lose between $50,000 to $80,000 this year, according to local extension agents.

Smithfield farmer Robert Taylor says he not only lost about half of his peanut crop, but spent at least $4,000 protecting it from spider mites. The anti-spider mite chemical cost him $18 per application per acre for his 185 acres of peanuts, and some fields were sprayed two or three times, Taylor says.

Yields from corn and soybeans were also nearly cut in half, costing farmers large amounts of money.

The loss is hard to put in dollars and cents, Taylor says, "but it takes a lot more than half a crop to break even. We're all depressed," he says. "You can't put a crop in the ground and watch it suffer all summer . . . and not be depressed. When you work a whole year for nothing and know you're not going to pay your bills off, you have to be concerned."

His wife, Katherine, has seen a change in his attitude.

"His attitude was basically about the crops," Mrs. Taylor says. "If it rained, he was happy, if it didn't, he was sad.''

The crops are like his little children. "He babies them, nurtures them, then waits for them to grow," she says.

Since peanut harvesting just began, farmers don't know the full extent of the damage to their crops until the early part of December, says Bob Goerger, Isle of Wight extension agent. Many will begin raking soybeans the first week in November.

"I suspect that we'll have farmers who won't survive," Goerger says.

Farmers who are diverse will fare a little better this year, Goerger says, especially those who grow cotton. Cotton fields are producing one of the best crops since it made a comeback in Virginia five years ago. Some yields are as high as 800 pounds per acre, when the average yield for 1992 was 621 pounds per acre, according to the crop reporting service.

Taylor, who raises cattle, hogs and shells peanuts for other farmers, says he may not be as hurt as farmers who only have crops to depend upon. "Cattle and hogs will keep me floating," he says.

Farmers say the drought is not going to hurt them as bad this year as it will next year. For some farmers, the drought will mean borrowing more money than usual to start off next year's season or using money they saved. For others, it will mean they will not be able to replace worn out equipment.

"We'll just going to have to tighten our belts," Crocker says.

When farmers tighten up on spending, farm industry businesses bear the brunt. Jesse Appel, parts manager of Rowland Equipment Co. in Smithfield, estimates that this year's drought will cut business by a third. Because farmers used equipment less, they didn't need to replace tires as frequently, he says. Fewer seeps for cultivators were purchased because of the low yields, Appel says.